Local Journalism Initiative
Exporting Canadian electricity, jump-starting electric vehicle sales and consideration of carbon-based trade barriers are three of the key topics on the table between Canada and the United States as the two countries dig into bilateral climate-change policy co-ordination. Discussions between the two countries on climate change policy have been ongoing since the election of U.S. President Joe Biden in November. But Tuesday, Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson met with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and appeared in the virtual GLOBE Capital 2021 conference with American political consultant John Podesta. Podesta is a trusted Democratic consultant who served as White House chief of staff under former president Bill Clinton, and as a climate-policy adviser to former president Barack Obama. The meeting between Wilkinson and Kerry is a part of a continuing dialogue aimed at getting both countries to set more ambitious national commitments to lower greenhouse-gas emissions. The results are expected to be revealed at an international summit next week. The previous emissions targets were set ahead of the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015. International leaders and diplomats will be meeting in Scotland in the fall for another round of negotiations. Zero-emission vehicles are a focus of U.S.-Canada diplomacy. Wilkinson hinted that the phaseout of internal combustion engines is likely on the horizon in Canada as he hopes to “implement a 100 per cent ZEV sales target as soon as possible.” This will involve co-ordination across the vehicle supply chain on both sides of the border, he said, including involvement from the auto industry and auto workers’ unions. “There’s a lot of work that we can do together to keep those supply chains integrated, keep them here in North America, ensure that the electric vehicles of the future are built here with labour that’s in the United States and Canada. So I think that’s an exciting possibility,” Podesta said Tuesday. As a part of the GLOBE Capital conference, the Canadian Infrastructure Bank unveiled its latest project that will help to sell clean Canadian electricity in the United States. A total of $1.7 billion is being committed to the construction of the Lake Erie Connector Project that will see Ontario electricity exported into the American PJM Interconnection — the largest electricity market in North America, that services 13 states in the northeast from New Jersey to North Carolina. Of the funding, $655 million is being invested by the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and $1.05 billion is being fronted by private investors. “I think sometimes people look at the negative impacts of climate change, as opposed to looking at a trillion-dollar opportunity,” federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna said at the virtual announcement. The sale of Canadian power into the American grid, which has also been pursued in Manitoba, is a broader partnership opportunity that officials on both sides of the border are eager to pursue. The U.S. electricity market will need a significant amount of reworking if Biden’s goal of a carbon-free power grid is to be achieved by 2035. “I think there is a strong market in the United States for clean power from Canada, we need to work together on storage, and transmission to ensure that the grid is secure and reliable,” Podesta said. He added that while cross-border electricity sales are important, they aren’t a policy being pursued in isolation. For example, this week Biden announced significant investments in offshore wind. “I think there’s tremendous potential — probably in both countries — for a buildout of more offshore wind on both coasts.” Wilkinson said he hopes during pandemic recovery to see significant advancements for mature green energy, such as wind and solar, but also the advancement of power-generation sources that are newer on the scene in Canada, including tidal and geothermal. But continued investment in fossil fuel infrastructure should be avoided as both the U.S. and Canada aim to phase out heavy-carbon sources such as coal. “We need to ensure as we’re phasing out coal, which we have committed to do by regulation by 2030, that we’re not simply replacing that with natural gas-fired power plants that will exist in 2050, and a net-zero world,” Wilkinson said. As Canada and U.S. move forward with more stringent climate policies, additional trade policies will be needed to ensure cheaper, more carbon-intensive goods aren’t cutting into the North American market; a phenomenon known as carbon leakage. “The Europeans are moving forward with a carbon-border adjustment, as early as this summer. I think the United States and Canada need to be discussing that. Because quite frankly, we don’t want other countries taking advantage of our markets by undercutting through the ability to use emissions, in essence, as an advantage,” Podesta said. The EU trading block is expected to push such trade policy forward by the summer. More details about the potential rollout of such policies in North America will likely be unveiled at next week’s summit. Sarah Lawrynuik, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press
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